Come Blow Your Horn
by Mice
Summary: Klaus McQueen and Lucille "Lucky" Floyd are life long best friends and reporting team from a Los Angeles paper sent to D.C. to uncover the truth about mutant hate groups and what is really keeping evolution back.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**  
>Had an allergy attack the other night and remembered this fan fic that I wrote when I was sixteen. I was still figuring out everything and was trying to use original characters in a non-X-Men specific way. I found it and was pleasantly surprised. I don't post a lot of my ancient, early writings, but after reading this and a book that was recommended to me a long time ago, I needed to give it a home.<p>

Lucille "Lucky" Floyd was by no chance an ordinary girl. And neither was her best friend, Klaus McQueen. At six years old and five years old, they made a promise to one another.

"You promise to make me a queen, Klaus?" she asked loudly, pumping her legs in the swing set all the noise in the playground.

"Of course. I pinky swear, even, Lucky," he answered by grinning  
>from his swing.<p>

"You sure you can do it? It might be harder than you think."

"I can do it!" he roared triumphantly, determined to keep the most unordinary girl he ever met at his side. "Even if I have to marry you." His nose scrunched  
>up in disgust; the thought of marriage to the kindergartener was almost as unthinkable as losing her.<p>

"Yeeuch!" Lucky's nose matched his in the same form of disgust, but  
>soon her face erupted in laughter. She jumped off bravely from her swing and sang, "Wednesday, Wedding Day!"<p>

"Aw, man..." Klaus reluctantly jumped from his swing to chase  
>after her. If he didn't tickle the inside of her elbow by the end of recess, he'd be stuck with her forever<p>

Come Blow Your Horn: Part 1/3  
>By Mice<p>

Lucky Floyd hunted down Klaus McQueen at the Los Angeles Anchor, the second largest paper in the city. She was a photographic Ace and he was a top reporter. Lucky's top joy was to out-scoop Klaus. "Guess what, McQueen."

He jumped at the sound of her voice. She always seemed to sneak up on him. "What is it Floyd? Another mutant story?"

"Of course! Look at this picture I took." She pulled out her tablet. "It is of the outlaw band of mutants called the X-Men. "You can even see that one's purple hair...and that pink stuff around her hand. I'm telling you, McQueen, I'm going to get the front page..." She smiled at the defeat in his face. "...again!"

"Look, Floyd, the story I'm working on is going to give the costume freaks a run for their money. Look." He smiled at his computer  
>screen and the sea of letters that she was squinting at. "Oh, I forgot that you wear glasses." Lucky needed glasses and they were never around. "<em>Graydon Creed: Savior or Schmuck?<em> It seems that Mr. Creed has some great dirty laundry hanging out the window. So far, I've scratched the surface that the Friends of Humanity is somewhat of a Nazi campaign group and is somehow connected to him. This is true front page material, Floyd. Go to the comic section to print your little picture."

"Oooh, McQueen! You forget, the Friends of Humanity deals with mutants; they say that they are there to protect the humans from them. I  
>get a feeling we could, oh, I don't know, combine our genius and get a real story." Lucky began to smile at in a way that always made him feel like he was walking into a trap. Her thirty-four year-old body that had never seen the light of a health club was quite well kept and threatening his space. She shrugged her foot clad in a knee high Doc Marten boot with jeans that Klaus reasoned she had probably slashed with a steak knife over what seemed to be a black leotard.<p>

"C'mon, McQueen. I know you're feeling rebellious today, your wearing your maroon tie! Also, what is more rebellious than working with  
>me?" She gave a little pout to her lip to double her efforts.<p>

Klaus straightened out his Dockers and made sure that his white shirt was still white before looking at Lucky, not wanting to agree. "Alright, what will it hurt?" he sighed. It was the opposite of what he wanted.

"It'll be a blast, Queenie! The boss man said it was ok, so go and pack! I got a tip and we got to get to D.C. by six o'clock tonight! we leave for this tip I got about the FOH and DC at six tonight." Lucky tossed her large canvas back pack over her shoulder and began to exit.

"How did you know I was going to agree?"

She turns before going outside the building and winks. "I knew you couldn't resist me."


	2. Chapter 2

Come Blow Your Horn, Part 2/3

By Mice

Klaus McQueen is falling.

He has this dream almost nightly; he jumps off of a building and let's the buildings around him whiz by in a blur. He can't see straight  
>and he panics until he sees a flock of pigeons flying by effortlessly. Their wings press against the wind; guiding them. And then his truest<br>fear erupts from behind. Large wings tear out from his back and rips his shirt. He screams out loud from the pain in the dream and in the waking world.

"McQueen, ya havin' a bad dream?" Lucky Floyd is Klaus McQueen's partner. Right now, they're in Washington D.C. from their native L.A.  
>They're trying to get a story from Graydon Creed and the possibility that he's hiding something that has to do with the FOH.<p>

"No, Floyd. Just, ah...yeah. Go back to sleep." He looks over to his friend of many years in the bed beside him in the cheap motel. She  
>falls back asleep effortlessly and he stays awake.<p>

_I should tell you, Lucky_, he begins to think, _I've trusted you with so much in my life, and you haven't hated me because of it. Why  
>is it so hard for me to tell you that I'm a mutant?<em> He sinks back into his bed and eventually drifts off.

The dawn broke cruelly in the small room. On a hunk, Klaus called out, "Hey, Floyd. Time to get up." No response. "Floyd, get  
>up!" Still nothing. "Lucky?" His eyes ventured to her bed where she is not.<p>

Getting up, he headed toward the bathroom. "Lucky?" She isn't there either. "She never gets up early..." He stood in the room in nothing but his boxers, about to call his editor when the door opened and Lucky walked in carrying a large paper bag.

"Hey, McQueen! You look good without your shirt!" After a wolf whistles, she threw the bag to him. "I claim the shower first!" She rushed into the  
>bathroom, throwing her trench coat to the side. Klaus went over to it, investigating it as in his years of knowing Lucky, he knew for a fact she actively hated trench coats. (He did not know for a fact when his ex-wife's birthday was, though.)<p>

He found a patch sewn on inside of the coat with the initials "FOH". _Floyd, what did you get into this morning?_ he wondered. He tossed the coat aside and prepared for his shower.

At thirty-three, Klaus has had a pretty full life in the last six years. Married at twenty-seven, wife gave birth to a little girl at twenty-eight. Divorce promptly on his twenty-ninth birthday, and promotion on the newspaper the following year. Got paired off with Lucky at thirty-one, and established himself in the news world at thirty-two. At thirty-three, he had the fear that his best friend is part of the FOH.

_But that makes no sense. She's fascinated with mutants...or is it that she truly hates them and decides to observe them..._ These_  
><em>questions race through his mind while he begins to shave while Lucky showers.

His face is not a bad one. He was never shy for girls growing up. Light blue eyes that gave off a sincere look and dark blond hair to frame his tanned skin. The part he liked best on his face was his nose, though. It was stern and didn't make him look like a freshman in college as some people with similar features do. He was born and raised in California, and he looked the part.

Lucky stepped out of the shower with a small towel and smiled at him. She, too, was raised in California, but no one would ever confuse her for a beach bunny. Dark brown hair and dark hazel eyes with fair skin that defied the sun. She was much shorter than him with a decent figure, though her diet was mostly Twinkies and Mountain Dew, where he had to work out every day and keep his fat intake low to keep up his build.

He moved over to the paper bag, hoping for something edible. He wasn't surprised to find a Big Slam of Mountain Dew, Ding Dongs, and some beef jerky. He was surprised, though, to find some coffee and a bagel with lox.

"I know ya don't eat junk, McQueen. I wouldn't force my food down your throat," she said with a big grin.

"I thank you, Floyd." He sat down at the table with his breakfast and some cream cheese and began to prepare his bagel.

She slid into a black body suit that went down to her ankles. "Hey, McQueen, don't mean to be nosy-well, yeah, I'm being nosy, but could you tell me something?"

"Mmm-hmm," he mutters with a mouthful of bagel.

"Why did you and the IceQueen break it off? Ya keep sayin' it was a mutual disagreement, but c'mon, there's sumthin' else, isn't there?"

That explanation was far from the truth.

It was simple how it happened. His wife, Claudia, had asked him many times what the two symmetrical scars on his back were, and he kept  
>telling her that they were an old injury from his baseball career in high school.<p>

Claudia had kept on being curious and checked out his story. Klaus had never played baseball or any other sport in high school, and she confronted him about it, but he didn't want to tell her. He wanted his secret, but she threatened to leave with their daughter, Rowena, right then if he didn't tell her. He stared at her for a moment before deciding to show her his wings.

They spread out from the scars on his back. Unlike the the outed mutant Angel, his wings could hide in his back, though it hurt like hell. His wife stood  
>there in horror and left him with their daughter.<p>

Lucky laced up her boots and shrugged. "Uhm, you don't have to answer me. I was just curious."

"Thanks, Lucky." He smiled over to her and realized what a good friend he had...who hopefully was not out to destroy his genetic  
>brothers and sisters. "I've been wanting to ask you, Floyd. Why do you have an FOH jacket?"<p>

She stood frozen. Her wide hazel eyes gave off a yellow glow and reminded him of a deer caught in the headlights.

"Tell me you're not one of them."

Her lower lip quivered as her eyes filled with tears. She reached for her best friend and tries her best to explain. "I'm not, Klaus, I swear it! I don't know how I got that jacket, I just know that I went out for breakfast this morning, and when I came back, all I had on was that jacket!"

"Hey, Lucky, it's okay."

He rubbed her back sympathetically and held her. "Klaus, something  
>bad happened, I-"<p>

The silence and the room was interrupted by the door being kicked in. Three men in berets and FOH shirts grab the twosome. "Mutie scum!"one of them screams out.

"Let her go!" Klaus McQueen shouts, knowing that they are there for him.

"Hey, McQueen, chivalry is dead!" She snaps back. "But you heard him - let me go!"

Both Klaus and Lucky are knocked out by blows to the head and the three FOH members stand there thinking. "What should we do with the other one,  
>Gomer?"<p>

"Eh, take'em with us. Have a little fun. C'mon, we got to get going, guys. Creed wants this done before breakfast."


	3. Chapter 3

Come Blow Your Horn, Part 3/3

By Mice

An auditorium is filled with impressionable (and hungry) men and women. They have gathered to witness a rivalry that will come to a bloody end. Plus, it was the annual Friends of Humanity Pancake Breakfast with all proceeds going to Timothy Beauchamp, recovering in the hospital from a mutant attack (supposedly).

Graydon Creed took over center stage next to a gagged Lucky Floyd to loud applause.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Friends Of Humanity. This shall be no ordinary pancake breakfast. My old friend, Miss Floyd will finally repay her debt to all the trouble she has caused us." He goes down to the girl to make sure she's awake, and she is quite and he whispers to her. "Sorry, Miss Floyd. You've been a thorn in my side too long.." He returns his attention to his attentive audience. "Mr. Goddard, read off the list of charges to which Miss Floyd is charged with."

"Lucille "Lucky" Eugenia Floyd: You are charged with being a threat to humanity through your genetic background. You have also  
>perpetrated material from the Friends of Humanity files and given them to one Charles Xavier. This very morning, you attacked three of my men using<br>your mutant powers. How do you plead?

Klaus McQueen looked down from his high perch in the auditorium. _Lucky is a mutant? Why didn't I see it before? And she's been working with Xavier this whole time?_

Lucky's voice pierced the room with pride. "I plead guilty to helping all of humanity, not just pick and choose, you mutie-wanna-be's." She turned her head up to Graydon Creed and spat on his forehead.

_That's my girl!_ Klaus thinks, remembering all the spit training she's had with her seven brothers.

Graydon Creed wiped off the spit. "Kill her off. Then, there will be pancakes."

The mob cheered eagerly and Lucky was taken up to a high platform. "Let's see if cats really do land on their feet!" one of the men with his face  
>and arm brutally clawed yells out.<p>

"Ya see, dude, that's the scum we normal people have to fight!" says the man keeping Klaus McQueen under tight guard.

"Yeah, normal people..." His voice trails off as his conscience is left with guilt. He stares up to Lucky who is trying her best not to cry,  
>but he can see her face; red and puffy. Through her bravado, he can tell she's terrified. Suddenly, without warning, Lucky Floyd is dropped.<p>

Klaus's wings opened on instinct, breaking his bonds. He dove down to catch his best friend and nearly grabbed her hand before it changed into a cat's paw.

Once she was finished changing, there was a large, black panther with yellow eyes, growling on the stage. Klaus landed next to her. A few of the FOH and mob advanced but then moved back as the panther swatted a tthem.

The crowd, in cowerdice, choose to flee instead of fight.

Graydon Creed disappeared as well. Presumably, to find pancakes.

"Ah, you're waking up!" Klaus smiled at the human form of Lucky as the sun went down.

"Mmmrph?" She looked around to the natural surroundings. "Where are we, McQueen?"

"We're at Wesley Heights Park. You've been out for quite some time. Does that...change...take a lot out of you?"

"I changed forms?" She looked nervously down at her non-existing clothes except for a white shirt that clung tightly on her. "Oh shit..."

Klaus laughed out loud and gave her a hug. "Yes, you did, and you were beautiful." He kissed the top of her head.

"And, if I recall, you're not exactly Mr. Straight Genes, either, you Warren Worthington Wanna-Be!"

He blushed for a bit before looking into the face of total acceptance. "Yeah, well, I guess now you know why Claudia and I broke up."

"I never liked her. You were too good for her."

"Oh, opposed to what? She was one of the only people who could put up with me..."

"Not true! I've put up with you since first grade, McQueen! AND, I can tolerate the fact that your homo-superior, like moi!" A smirk ran  
>across her face.<p>

"Too true, Lucille." It was his turn to smirk. "Your middle name is Eugenia? You told me you didn't have one!"

"Oh, I wouldn't be talking, Klaus Hilary!" Her smile grew brighter with every insult, as did Klaus's.

"So, Floyd. Where do we go from here?"

"Well, McQueen, you can join the underground. We need help." She looked over to his uncertain face. "You'd be good, and you wouldn't  
>believe the fringe benefits! You could still write for the paper, and we get to work with each other more, and we do make an unbelievable team."<p>

"Well, if the boss doesn't mind that we totaled the story-"

"He's one of the underground, too."

"Wayland Summers is pro-mutant?"

"He's a cousin of one or something..." She grinned and held out her hand. "So, is this a yes, partner?"

"What the hell." The shook on it. "It's a promise."

"Great! Let's get the hell out D.C.!"

"My thoughts exactly!"

"Especially, considering that tomorrow, we'll be wanted felons, fleeing from the law..."

His grin faded. "WHAT?"

**The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship.**


End file.
